Thomasville Furniture Closes Manufacturing Facility

Furniture World Magazine

Thomasville Furniture Industries, a subsidiary of St. Louis, Missouri based Furniture Brands International, announced the closing of a case goods manufacturing facility located in Thomasville, North Carolina. The affected facility, Plant D, is a 309,000 square foot case goods manufacturing facility and employs 278 people. This closing will entail the elimination of all salaried and hourly jobs and the plant will cease manufacturing operations by August 1, 2006. Furniture Brands estimates the restructuring, asset impairment and severance charges associated with this closure will total approximately $4.0 million ($2.6 million net of income tax benefit), or 5 cents per diluted common share. Approximately $0.5 million of these charges will be taken in the second quarter of 2006 and the remainder, consisting of clean-up and asset impairment charges, will be taken when the plant is available for sale, likely the third quarter of the year. Furniture Brands International is one of America's largest residential furniture companies. The company produces, sources and markets its products under six of the best-known brand names in the industry - Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith.